1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel DNA sequence and its use for transforming vectors, host organisms and plants and for producing novel plants which are male-sterile and which exhibit an altered flower colour.
2. Description of Related Art
Male-sterile plants play an important role in plant breeding, in particular in hybrid breeding. A variety of methods for producing male-sterile plants have already been disclosed, which methods involve, for example, eliciting cell damage specifically, for example in the anthers, interfering in mitochondrial functions, using antisense DNA to create opportunities for chemicals to exert a sterilizing effect or inhibiting chalcone synthesis (cf. WO 90/08830, WO 90/08831, WO 89/10396, EP-A-0 329 308 and EP-A-0 335 451). However, the methods which have hitherto been available for producing male-sterile plants do not, in many cases, lead to completely satisfactory results. In addition to this, plants are frequently obtained which exhibit a considerably increased susceptibility towards fungal pathogens, making it substantially more difficult to handle them in practice. There is, therefore, a great need for other methods of producing male-sterile plants which do not suffer from these disadvantages.
The production of plants which exhibit an altered flower colour is of particular interest for ornamental plant breeding, so that there is considerable interest in new methods in this field as well.